Mayor Suthers to lead public meeting on stormwater fee Oct. 3 at WCC

Mayor Suthers to lead public meeting on stormwater fee Oct. 3 at WCC

Flooding on Camp Creek in 2015 made an island out of this instructive sign at the north end of the Garden of the Gods. Funding to help with creek flood-control upgrades is included in a previously approved project list that would be funded by a city-proposed stormwater fee.

Westside Pioneer file photo

Update, Sept. 27: Event organizers announced that the planned time range has changed to 5:30 to 7 p.m (now also changed in the original article below) and that Councilmember Skorman, who was orignally scheduled to co-lead this event, will not be present. A Westside Pioneer e-mail to him did not generate a reply.

       Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers and District 3 City Councilmember Richard Skorman plan to lead a public meeting Tuesday, Oct. 3 on the proposed stormwater fee that the city has placed on the ballot in the November election.
       Scheduled from 5:30 to 7 p.m., the informal event will be in Hughes Hall at the Westside Community Center, 1628 W. Bijou St. The event organizers are the Organization of Westside Neighbors (OWN) and Council of Neighbors and Organizations (CONO).
       Approved by City Council in late August at Suthers' urging, the plan is to establish a program starting in 2018 with sufficient funding to spend about $20 million annually on city-wide drainage control over a 20-year period.
       The cost would be covered by a fee on "all developed real property" in the city - of $5 a month for residential properties and $30 a monh per acre for all others.
       A previously approved project list includes (on the Westside) $4.4 million for Camp Creek.
       According to information presented at an August council meeting, the program is conceptually modeled after the city's Stormwater Enterprise, started in 2007. Council instituted that program without an election, causing a public backlash that culminated in the enterprise being voted out in 2009.
       The district for Skorman, who is also the council president, covers the southwest area of the city, including the south part of the Westside.
       With Skorman's backing, Suthers argued before council in August that the city needs to catch up on stormwater system upgrades. On top of that, having a designated program - instead of trying to scare up money within the budget each year - would help forestall any flooding-related legal challenges, Suthers told council.

Westside Pioneer article
(Posted 9/25/17, updated 10/23/17; Politics: City/County)

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